Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Series

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) series was
begun in 1968 to fill the need for a better understanding of the determinants
of family income and its changes. Its main sponsors are the National Science
Foundation and the National Institute on Aging. The PSID is a longitudinal
survey of a representative sample of United States individuals and the
families in which they reside. The data were collected annually through 1997,
and biennially starting in 1999. ICPSR's holdings consist of three separate
PSID data collections. The core data files contain the full span of
information collected over the course of the study. The data provide
information on economic status, economic behavior, demographics, and
attitudes. The investigators hoped to discover whether most short-term changes
in economic status are due to forces outside the family or if they can be traced
to something in the individual's own background or in the pattern of his or her
thinking and behavior. The data are intended to shed light on what causes
family income to rise above or fall below the poverty line. PSID data can be
used for cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intergenerational analysis and for
studying both individuals and families. ICPSR captures the data only
periodically and the most current data are on the
at the PSID Web site.